The present invention relates to a parking lock arrangement for a motor vehicle gearbox, with a parking lock cog, which can be fixed to a shaft of the motor vehicle gearbox rotatable about a first axis, a parking lock pawl, which is supported so that it can pivot about a second axis, an actuating mechanism, by means of which the parking lock pawl can be pivoted into a locking position, in which the parking lock pawl meshes with the parking lock cog, and a release mechanism, by means of which the parking lock pawl can be pivoted out of the locking position into a release position, in which the parking lock pawl is decoupled from the parking lock cog.
Such parking lock arrangements are generally known, being disclosed by DE 103 10 977 A1, for example.
As actuating mechanism, the parking lock disclosed by this document has a sliding key, which can be pushed in an axial direction between a housing wall and the rear side of the parking lock pawl for locking the parking lock arrangement. As release mechanism a spring is provided, which biases the parking lock pawl towards the release position.
The known parking lock arrangement has a relatively large number of components and takes up a relatively large amount of space. Should the spring biasing the parking lock pawl break, the parking lock pawl drops onto the parking lock cog, so that it is necessary to rebuild the gearbox. Such springs furthermore have relatively large tolerances, which can have an adverse effect on the tolerance governing the speed with which the parking lock engages. Added to this is the fact that the spring has to be designed so that the parking lock pawl does not accidentally slip from the release position into the locking position or come in contact with the parking lock cog under accelerations of the gearbox. Such accelerations can occur when running over potholes etc., for example. Since the spring has therefore to be provided with a relatively high spring constant, in order to prevent noise and excessive wear, this means that relatively large forces are required for the actuating mechanism.